The Songstress and The Mercenary
by Quasi11
Summary: A stoic mercenary and a sociable songstress. Will it work? A series of shorts detailing the relationship between Byleth and Dorothea.
1. Chapter 1: Introductions

**4/24**

**Dorothea**

"Who's that?" Dorothea asked.

Standing with Caspar and Lindhart was a darkly-clad young man with teal hair and matching eyes. His face wore a blank expression, effectively masking any emotion that might have been present.

"I did not catch his name, but he is the mercenary who saved Edelgard and the other lords from those bandits." Ferdinand replied.

"Oh?" Dorothea asked, her eyebrows raised. "Well, He certainly looks the part of a dashing hero," she smirked.

_Very dashing indeed._

"From what he said, it sounds like he will be enrolling here as a student." Her finder friend said.

Dorothea lit up. "That's certainly good news. I'd like to get to know him."

Ferdinand sighed. "Yes, I bet you would."

Appearing to have finished talking to her classmates, the man turned to leave. Not wasting any time, and being sure to put a little extra sway in her hips, Dorothea followed him quickly out the door.

"Well, aren't you just lovely." She called out in a flirty voice. Hearing her call out to him, he stopped and spun on his heels to face her.

"Hm?"

"I'm Dorothea. Before coming to the Academy I was a songstress with the Mittlefrank Opera Company in Enbarr." She said. That exact introduction had become routine for her, and it worked with almost every man that she said it too. She knew exactly what to say and exactly how to say it.

"Byleth." He replied simply, his expression remaining unchanged. "It's a pleasure."

_Woah, try not to get too excited there. That introduction normally has men tripping over themselves!_

"I hear you're the traveling mercenary everyone is talking about. I guess that would mean this is your first time at the monastery?" he nodded. "Shall I show you around then?" The songstress asked, giving him her brightest smile.

The man paused for a moment, holding his chin in his hand in a thoughtful pose. "I suppose I could use a hand in navigating this place. It is rather large." He replied, either not understanding the implication of her offer or simply choosing to ignore it.

Dorothea shuddered. His voice was deeper then she had expected, with a commanding tone that she found oddly charming. Despite her interest being piqued she remained outwardly collected.

"But," He continued. "It will have to wait until later. I have to report back to Lady Rhea soon."

"Oh, of course." She said. If he was a new student, it would mean that he had to pick a house. "Do you know which house you'll be with yet?"

Byleth shook his head. "Not yet."

_A man of few words, huh? This one isn't going to be easy._

Dorothea nodded. "Well, I'm part of the Black Eagle House. If and when you decide that you'd like that tour, you can find me in the classroom with the red banners on the outside wall."

"Noted." He said, and began walking away.

Dorothea frowned, watching as he turned and disappeared into the monastery.

_Am I not as charming as I thought?_

—

"I've been assigned to lead the Black Eagle House this year," Manuela said. "Professor Hanneman von Esser will be leading the Golden Deer, and our newest staff member Professor Byleth Eisner will be leading the Blue Lions."

_What._

"Um, Manuela. Did I just hear you correctly?" Dorothea asked.

"Which part?" The professor asked in reply.

"About Byleth being a... a teacher?" She asked hopefully.

Manuela nodded. "Yes, you did. He's quite young, but Lady Rhea has full faith in his skills."

"Okay, thank you for clarifying." Dorothea said happily.

"Of course, dear. Now as I was saying before..."

Dorothea was beaming as Manuela continued her introduction.

_So THAT'S why he didn't reciprocate my flirting earlier..._

Suddenly Manuela and the other Black Eagles were looking at her. All of the had quizzical or judgmental expressions on their face save Ferdinand, who had his hands on his knees and was laughing. She returned their gazes with an equally confused look. After a moment her cheeks flushed bright red as a realization dawned her.

Dorothea chuckled nervously. "Oh, um, did... did I say that out loud?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thank you to everyone who pointed out the messed up formatting when I first uploaded this. I'm not sure what happened but I re-uploaded the document and it seems to have resolved the issue.


	2. Chapter 2: Diligence on Two Fronts

**4/27**

**Byleth**

Byleth found himself with very little free time in the days immediately following his arrival at Garreg Mach. He learned early on that their stay at the Monastery was of a more permanent nature then he had expected; His father Jeralt has rejoined the Knights of Seiros, and Byleth himself was unexpectedly offered a teaching position at the Officer's Academy.

Any feelings he had in regard to his new position were far outweighed by the unnerving realization that he had absolutely _no idea_ how to be a teacher. Yes, he had a strong understanding of battle tactics and a fair amount of combat experience, but imparting that knowledge onto others was uncharted territory. So, after being assigned a bedroom Byleth had sequestered himself away and began to develop a rudimentary lesson plan.

And finally, after two days and nights spent hunched over his desk, he has constructed a full lesson plan tailored to the strengths and weaknesses of each student. A tired sigh escaped his lips as he stood from his chair. Taking a quick glance out his window, he realized by the position of the shadows that it was the morning.

He was hungry.

_Food first. Then sleep._

Taking care to make himself look somewhat presentable in case he ran into one of his students, he quickly changed into a clean shirt and brushed through his hair. Once that was finished, he stepped out of his room and into the fresh spring air.

He looked around, trying to remember the location of the Dining Hall he had eaten at just after arriving at the monastery.

"Hmm."

_I have no idea where anything is._

"Oh, professor!" Byleth heard. Turning to his right, he noticed the maroon-haired student he had met several days earlier approaching him.

_What was her name again? I believe it started with a D... Dorothea, that's it._

"Hello Dorothea." He said. She smiled warmly at him.

"You look like you're having some trouble. Are you lost?" She asked.

After a moment he nodded. "I haven't had the time to familiarize myself with the area yet."

"So I've heard. Annette said that she wanted to invite you to lunch but you've barely left your room in two days." Dorothea said.

_Ah, so that's who knocked at my door yesterday._

"I've been working." He said.

Working? Classes haven't even begun yet."

"I had less time to prepare then Professors Esser and Casagranda," Byleth replied. "So I've been catching up."

"For two days straight? My, so diligent." Dorothea said in an odd voice. Byleth recalled her using that same voice multiple times during their first meeting.

"I suppose." Byleth agreed.

Suddenly they both heard a deep grumbling sound. Dorothea looked down towards his stomach and raised an eyebrow.

"Hungry?" She asked with a giggle.

"As we established earlier, I haven't had the time to familiarize myself with the monastery yet," Byleth said. "That would include the location of the dining hall."

"I'm on my way there now. How about I show you where it is and we have breakfast together?" Byleth couldn't help but notice that she was using her odd voice again.

_It's possible she just had a strange voice._

"Alright." Byleth agreed.

Dorothea's eyes lit up. "Great!" She clapped her hands together. "Right this way!" She turned and started walking.

_She seems strangely excited._

* * *

**Dorothea**

Dorothea sat down at the end of one of the long tables that filled the Dining Hall. She took off her hat and placed it on the table across from her, reserving the seat for Byleth while he got food for the two of them.

_It's sweet of him to get breakfast for the both of us. Not that he means anything by it. Sadly he's probably just being courteous._

She found the new professor... confusing, to say the least. After two conversations with the man she was left wondering why the new professor seemingly had no reaction to her flirtation. It was possible that the he merely ignored it because of his position as a professor. Some would be unbecoming of a teacher to react to the advances of a student. That was, of course, what Dorothea had originally believed. But now she wasn't so sure.

_Even if that is the case, surely I'd still notice some kind of reaction!_

Dorothea thought herself to be a bit of an expert at reading men; she could tell their emotions as if reading from the cover of a book. She was sure that if Byleth was merely ignoring her flirting, she would still pick up on _something_. A slight change in expression, fidgeting, any number of things that she normally saw when a man was nervous around her. But the only expression she had seen from Byleth so far was one of pure, bland disinterest.

Which led her to her other hypothesis. No matter how hard Dorothea found it to believe, he may not have even realized that he was being flirted with. But how could he be so oblivious?

_A strong, dashing mercenary who's traveled the world and experienced more than I could ever imagine. Could someone like that really be so innocent about romance?_

The clang of metal brought her train of thought to an abrupt halt as a plate of food and a set of silverware were placed down in front of her.

"Oh, thank you." She said, quickly picking up her hat and putting it back on as Byleth sat down with his own plate which, she noticed, had at least twice as much food piled onto it than hers did.

"Of course." He said before beginning to devour the food on his plate. Dorothea followed suit, taking far more time with her meal then he was.

The pair are in relative silence. She occasionally glanced up at her dining partner, hoping to catch his steely gaze. But time and time again she was disappointed.

"Thank you for showing me where the Dining Hall is." Byleth said suddenly, temporarily breaking from his meal. Dorothea looked up from her plate in surprise.

_That's the first thing he's said that hasn't been replying to something I've said._

"Of course, professor!" Dorothea said happily. "You know, that offer to show you around the rest of the monastery is still open." She added with a wink.

"Alright." Byleth said before going back to his meal.

The songstress let out a sigh, absently picking at her meal with her fork.

_He truly is oblivious._


End file.
